Nearly two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the majority of Americans still support access to abortion.
About 6 in 10 Americans think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of 8,709 adults released on Monday.
The share of American adults who believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases has increased by 4 percentage points since 2021, according to Pew.
An overwhelming majority — 85 percent — of people who identify as Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to the poll.
However, there was “almost unanimous support” among respondents who identified as liberal Democrats.
Republicans and Republican-leaning respondents were much less likely to say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, at just over 40 percent.
But there has been an increase over the years in the number of Americans who support abortion in all or nearly all cases, on both sides of the political aisle.
In 2007, 63 percent of Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents and 39 percent of Republicans or Republican-leaning independents believed that abortion should be legal in all or almost all cases.
The poll notes that the number of Americans who believe abortion should be legal in all cases has remained consistent at about 25 percent, while 8 percent say it should be illegal in all cases.
And about two-thirds of Americans have an absolutist view on abortion, with 38 percent saying it should be legal in most cases and 28 percent saying it should be illegal in most cases.
More than half of Americans – 54 percent – say that the statement “the decision about whether to have an abortion belongs solely to the pregnant woman” describes their views very or very well. Meanwhile, 19 percent say it describes their opinions well and 26 percent say it does not describe their opinions well, according to the survey.
About a third of Americans — 35 percent — say that the statement “human life begins at conception, therefore an embryo is a person with rights” describes their views extremely or very well, while 45 percent say they do not describes your points of view well. But many Americans seem to believe both claims.
Pew found that 32 percent of Americans say both statements about pregnant women being solely responsible for the decision to terminate a pregnancy and the rights of embryos describe their views at least somewhat well.
Regardless of party affiliation, about 6 in 10 Americans say getting an abortion where they live would be at least somewhat easy, while 4 in 10 say it would be difficult.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
